Simple Spice cupcake

Cakes for me were synonymous with chocolate and vanilla, so when I was accidentally introduced to spices in a cake I wanted to experiment with them for sure. With my tried and tested vanilla cake recipe, I decided to go with cinnamon, my favourite. It’s a familiar taste for my family too.

The earthiness and sweetness of cinnamon can sometimes be overpowering so added some cardamom powder to give it a well rounded flavour. Organic jaggery has a distinct flavour of molasses which works very well with this.

You can bake this for your grandparent’s birthday and they would definitely appreciate it. As for the kids . . . Avvi (my naughty 5 year old helper) was apprehensive at first, but gobbled up after staring at it for sometime.

I topped these with Butterscotch sauce and it was a real treat. The recipe below is for a small batch as I was experimenting, but you can double the recipe easily.

It’s my niece’s first birthday today and we all are not with her in Bangalore, but wishing her with these virtual cupcakes. Happy birthday dear !!!

Sieve together in BOWL 01

1/2 cup Whole wheat flour

little more than 1/4 tsp Baking powder

3/4 tsp Baking Soda

1/4 tsp Cinnamon powder

1/4 tsp Cardamom powder

Blend together in BOWL 02

1/4 cup Organic powdered jaggery

1 tsp granulated sugar

1/4 cup Yogurt / thick dahi

1/4 cup water

3 tbsp neutral oil

Preheat the oven to 170 Celcius

Mix well ingredients of each bowl and gently whisk the ingredients of BOWL 02 into BOWL 01 in two turns. Do not over mix the batter.

Fill the cupcake liners till 3/4 th full. I have used mini cupcake tin and got 9 mini cupcakes. Bake at 170 Celsius for 15 to 18 mins. All ovens vary so check for timings accordingly.

Cake is done when a skewer coming out clean. Cool on a rack and add frosting of your choice or eat it as it is. I have topped up my cupcake with Butterscotch sauce.

Savory cookies

It’s such a wonderful feeling when you pick greens fresh from the garden and use it in your kitchen. I don’t have a typical garden here in Mumbai, but rather few pots in my small balcony with some interesting and easy to grow plants. The mint and ajwain plant in particular is really growing well and I have keep thinking of ways to use it interestingly.

Avvi, enjoys eating the leaves as it is but I prefer them in these cookies. I have made these cookies from Sunita’s blog earlier too with just mint leaves, but added ajwain this time. As usual, Avvi had fun cutting cookies in interesting shapes and I was a happy and satisfied mummy seeing him enjoy these cuties. This is a regular in his snack box.

Me and my mum enjoyed it with Launji ( a dip made from raw mango) along with tea. You can also try it with some jam or Nutella. Hope you all too enjoy making and eating these cookies as much as I do.

Let’s go to the recipe

Mix together in bowl

1 cup Whole wheat flour atta

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp powdered sugar

1/4 tsp soda

Mix together in a blender

1/4 cup fresh mint and ajwain leaves (or as per your preference)

2- 1/2 tbsp thick curd

1-1/2 tbsp oil (I used rice bran)

1/8 cup water

Savory-cookies

Proceed

Preheat the oven at 180 deg C.

Mix together ingredients listed above in a bowl and pluse together the wet ingredients in the blender

Tip in the wet into the dry and make the dough by mixing lightly with fingertips till everything comes together. Do not knead or the cookies would turn out to be very hard.

Roll the dough and cut the desired shapes. If required, lightly flour the board.

Place the cut out shapes on the lined tray, a little apart from each other.

Place it in preheated oven for 15 to 17 mins till the top is lightly browned.

Transfer the cookies on the wire rack and let it cool completely before storing in airtight containers.